Peristaltic pumps are typically used to pump clean/sterile or aggressive fluids, because cross contamination cannot occur. Some common applications include pumping IV fluids through an infusion device, aggressive chemicals, high solids slurries and other materials where isolation of the product from the environment, and the environment from the product, are critical. The peristaltic pump is the standard method for introducing liquids into the nebulizer on an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) unit.
Rotary peristaltic pumps typically move liquids through flexible tubing. A typical peristaltic pump has a rotor assembly with pinch rollers that apply pressure to the flexible tubing at spaced locations to provide a squeezing action on the tubing against an occlusion bed. The occlusion of the tubing creates increased pressure ahead of the squeezed area and reduced pressure behind that area, thereby forcing a liquid through the tubing as the rotor assembly moves the pinch rollers along the tubing.
For high pressure peristaltic pumps, where pressures may exceed, for example, approximately 100 psi, very thick, stiff walled tubing is required to accommodate the elevated pressures. This relatively stiff nature of this high pressure tubing poses design challenges for both the loading and occluding operations of the pump.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pump and a tube retaining system that can accommodate the stiffer tubing needed for high pressure applications in both the loading of the tubing into the pump and the occlusion of the tubing during the operation of the pump.